As governments everywhere continue to deal with the economically damaging fallout of last week’s appalling Crowdstrike/Microsoft disaster, it’s no surprise to see more governments switching to Apple’s most stable platform. To put things into context, Parametrix Insurance has analyzed the consequences of last week’s global blue screen of death incident and assesses the economic cost of the moment on the world economy as being in the multiple billions of dollars. Estimated direct financial loss across the Fortune 500 was $5.4 billion, Parametrix said.  That’s a painful amount to ..read more

Google’s AI unit Deepmind has demonstrated two new AI systems, AlphaProof and AlphaGeometry 2, which can successfully solve complex mathematical problems, representing a significant milestone in AI development, Reuters reports . Today’s AI models work by being able to recognize patterns and statistically predict, for example, the next word that should be generated. However, this is not enough to handle abstract mathematics, which instead requires a system that can reason in a way that more closely resembles human intelligence. AlpaProof and AlphaGeometry 2 succeeded in solving four ..read more

Open AI CEO Sam Altman has written an attention-grabbing column in The Washington Post about the risks of artificial intelligence (AI), warning that authoritarian countries such as Russia and China want to control the development of AI systems — something that could eventually threaten humanity. For example, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that whoever wins the AI ​​battle will be the “ruler of the world”, while China has a stated goal of becoming the leader in AI by 2030. To prevent that from happening, the United States and its allies should work together to ensure that ..read more

OpenAI has thrown down the gauntlet to search giants like Google and Bing with the launch of its AI-powered search engine, SearchGPT. Currently, in testing with a small group of users and publishers, SearchGPT combines the advanced conversational abilities of OpenAI’s large language models with real-time web data to provide “fast, accurate answers complete with clear and relevant sources.” “Getting answers on the web can take a lot of effort,” OpenAI said in a statement. “We believe that by enhancing the conversational capabilities of our models with real-time information from the web, findin ..read more

The modern web browser is rather staid and not terribly exciting. Google Chrome rules the roost, browser technologies like HTML and JavaScript have gone unchanged for years, and updates to browsers are more often bug fixes than new features. But it’s about to get a little more interesting. Generative AI is coming to every web browser. Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and other browsers are trying to change how we interact with the web, using AI to boil down web articles and make browsing more efficient, said Ritu Jyoti, group vice president for AI infrastructure at IDC. “The strategy is to rein ..read more

Sometimes a Windows 10 system starts misbehaving to the point where repair is needed. This often takes the form of worsening performance or stability, and can originate from damage to, loss of, or corruption of Windows system files (normally in the C:\Windows folder hierarchy). When that happens, users would be well advised to break out the following routine to help them set things back to rights. This story provides a sequence of techniques to try if you’re frequently experiencing problems like slowdowns and crashes. All of these methods start with the assumption that you’re at lea ..read more

Let me just take a second to say what I suspect most of us are thinking right now: Sigh. All right — with that out of the way, we’re ready to get to the crux of this conversation: Google’s next-gen Pixel 9 devices are set to officially break cover in just over a couple weeks now. And from the looks of it, they’ll be ushering in a new era of on-the-go Google goodness while, just as notably, saying adieu to an old one. As you’ve probably figured out by this point, I’m not talkin’ about the hardware itself or anything specific to the phones’ forms. I’m talkin’ about the virtual assistant at the ..read more

The Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC), Spain’s competition authority has begun an audit of Apple’s App Store, according to Reuters. According to the authority, Apple may have introduced different commercial conditions for developers who sell mobile applications through the App Store. If so, Apple risks fines of up to 10% of the company’s global revenue. Apple denies any wrongdoing, saying Spanish developers of all sizes compete on equal terms on the App Store. The company says it will continue to work with the CNMC to sort things out. The App Store has also come u ..read more

Apple introduces new iPhone models every fall. This year’s model will, of course, introduce significant support for artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of Apple Intelligence — but what else is expected from the company’s most important product? We’ve filtered through the rumor-mill to find out so you, or your business, can get some perspective on whether it’s time to update your iPhone fleet. Things are happening in the background In the shadows, things are moving fast. Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams visited Shenzhen, China this week. He met with senior Chinese off ..read more

In a surprise move that will likely be welcomed by many Microsoft Teams users, the tech giant has announced an extension to the retirement timeline for its Office 365 connectors feature. Originally slated for a complete shutdown in October 2024, the connectors will now continue to function until December 2025. The decision comes after a wave of feedback from users who expressed concerns about the potential disruptions caused by a rapid transition to Power Automate workflows, the recommended replacement for Office 365 connectors. “We have extended the retirement timeline through December 2025 ..read more